Why chef Justine Schofield decided to join I’m A Celebrity
A reluctant camper, former MasterChef contestant and now celebrity chef Justine Schofield took a lot of convincing to return to reality TV. She reveals why she decided to head to the jungle for I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!
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She hates camping, loves the solitude of living alone and admits she gets a little angry when she’s hungry. So why would celebrity cook Justine Schofield agree to go into the jungle for the new season of Ten’s I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!
The former MasterChef alum says she didn’t go quietly — it took producers at least three attempts to convince the 33-year-old to join the 2019 cast in Africa.
“I kept saying ‘Thank you very much for thinking of me but I don’t know if I can put myself in that vulnerable position’,” Schofield tells BW Magazine.
“The main concerns for me were having no food, no make-up, fuzzy hair and being with complete strangers.
“But then I was talking with my sister-in-law and she said ‘It’s OK, you don’t have to do it, just don’t do it and everything will stay the same.’ And I started thinking ‘Everything will stay the same. In March I’ll go back to Melbourne to start filming the new season of Everyday Gourmet and everything will stay the same’.
“And I realised I needed to push myself out of my very comfortable, predictable life and that disruptions can be really good in life — even ridiculously crazy ones like this.”
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Another decider was the chance to earn money for her chosen charity, Share The Dignity, which supports female victims of abuse and homelessness.
Schofield says she did very little preparation before heading into the jungle, apart from weaning herself off coffee and alcohol so she doesn’t suffer the effects of detox while in the primitive camp.
She has never been a keen camper — unless you count glamping — and even used to cry when she had to go on school camps as a child.
“My dad loves camping but when I was little I would cry when I had to go away with the school for camp,” she recalls.
“Dad would get so annoyed with me because I didn’t like it. So now I can say to them ‘Hey, remember when I was a kid and hated camping?’ My family have been surprised by my decision to go into the jungle, but encouraging.”
Ten’s head of entertainment and factual programming Stephen Tate agrees it took some effort to get Schofield into the jungle.
“Justine took a lot of persuading but she finally agreed and we’re thrilled because she will bring warmth and balance to the cast and Australia will get to see just how much fun she can be outside of her kitchen,” Tate says.
Having finally made the decision to go, Schofield says she then faced some more concerns: while the Bush Tucker Trials, where contestants have to eat unusual things, did not faze her — especially having grown up with foodie parents eating “nose to tail” fare — the infamous Viper Room Challenge, where contestants lie in an enclosed container covered in snakes, was another matter.
Schofield also went in expecting to embrace the role of camp cook.
“I just hope my fellow contestants realise there’s only so much you can do with rice and no salt,” she says with a laugh.
Schofield, who appeared in the first MasterChef Australia series more than 10 years ago, will start filming the ninth season of her cooking show, Everyday Gourmet, soon after her stint in the jungle.
“I will have my head down when I get out of the jungle because I have to write about 300 recipes for the new season,” she says.
The hardworking cook is also planning the release in March or April of her third cookbook, which is rumoured to be on weeknight cooking.